


Wheels of Time

by thatchick61



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25724191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatchick61/pseuds/thatchick61
Summary: Time has never been kind. Lena and Kara used to be best friends until ten years ago. Now Lena needs Kara's particular skill set to help her save her little brother Lex. They will go back in time to imperialist Russia to steal Ferabge eggs but can they forget the past and trust each other again. Can time heal all wounds or just create new ones?
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. The present

Kara stands behind the cash register ringing up a shopper. If boredom needed a human representation, it would be her life. With her blond hair tied back in a low ponytail, her name tag is missing, and her red Target polo shirt a bit dusty from hiding in the storage room for a few hours. Danvers continues to ring up the food items watching customer before her try to wrangle her three rowdy boys, the sound of their playful screams yelps echoing throughout the store.

BEEP, Kara swipes another item, BEEP. The monotony of her day slowly drives her mad, and this lady oozing with Karen energy was either about to add entertainment to her day or make her sincerely regret her decision to be alive.

Item after item, Kara notices the length of the line growing behind this irate mother. She bags the final grocery item. The lady fumbles with her bag while holding the leash of her three boys. The exhausted woman hands Kara her debit card.

Kara swipes it, "It's been declined."

"Try again", the woman tugs on one of her kid's leash. "Stay put!" Kara watches her, "Did you try again?" The woman's attitude escalates.

Kara swipes the card again and, "Still declined."

"That's not right. Can I get your manager?"

"Ma'am there is nothing the manager can do about your card being declined," Kara replies drily.

"I didn't ask that. I said, get your manager!" the woman looks for Kara's name tag but nothing.

"Do you know how to do your job? Are you new here?" She looks around the store. "Where is Nicole, she is usually on this register."

"I don't know Nicole but if you have cash. You can pay for your groceries." Kara is sangfroid as the woman's temperature keeps rising.

"I want a manager!"

Kara sigh turns her back to the woman, pulls her name tag out of her pocket, and pins it to her polo shirt; it states "Kara Danvers Store Manager". The woman's face falls in defeat. 'I guess this is an entertaining encounter, after all,' Kara thought. The customer digs in her purse and hands, Kara some crumpled bills.

Kara hands her the bags of groceries with a sarcastic smile on her face "Come again!"

The woman takes her bags, her asshole children, and leaves. Kara watches her, even waves when the woman glares at her. A dark hair woman walks up to the register, her piercing green eyes lock onto Kara's face,

"Hey, Kara," Lena greets.

Her calm, rich voice dances in Kara's ears, freezing her. She knows that voice. She hasn't heard it in a decade. Time seems to slow as they face each other again. She was hoping that it is only her imagination, but life is a cruel inamorata. They stare at each other, neither eager to speak first.

"Can you hurry up," a man shouts from the back of the line breaking their weird trance.

Kara looks at the one bag of chips Lena put on the counter. She swipes it. BEEP!

"I need your help," Lena adds.

Kara looks at her, then the computer. "$1.82," she finally tells her.

Lena sighs and pulls out cash, she hands Kara two dollars, but she doesn't let go when Kara touches it. "I know you're mad, but please hear me out. It's the least you owe me," says Lena.

Kara's face morphs, "Owe you? Owe You!? Are you mad? You stabbed me!"

Several people in the line start to pay attention to the scene.

"Yes, because you stole from me!" Lena adds in defence.

A tiny young girl joins Kara."Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine Leela, here take over the register." Kara walks down the row of cash registers. Lena follows her down the aisle. Kara sees her in her peripheral, "Stop following me!" she hisses at her.

"No."

She sighs, she grabs Lena by the hand to walk her out of the store.

"Ow," Lena seethes, trying to pull her hand away, but Kara's vice grip refuses to yield.

Once outside, she drops Lena's hand. "What do you want?"

"I prefer it if we didn't do this out in the open?"

"Why not? What did you think would happen when you showed up?"

"Well, honestly I'm surprised we got this far."

Kara sighs again and steps out the way of a white-collar junkie strutting between them on the busy sidewalk. Instead of stopping once the man passes, she decides to keep walking to the corner store to get something to distract her. Lena scoffs, she doesn't have time for the petulant manager's pettiness. Kara looks behind and sees Lena cautiously following her.

"Are you going to say anything?"

"No, not really," Kara shrugs in anger, walking to the drug store.

Lena reluctantly follows her in, finding Kara scouring the back wall for energy drinks.

"Those are cancerous," Lena states as she touches the snacks with a disgusted look on her face.

Kara watches her prudently, she walks over and takes the Hot Cheetos Lena was fiddling with, "You have until I'm done paying to tell me why you're here."

Kara goes to the register, Lena fiddles with her hands, flustered. "That's not a lot of time."

"$6.82, Kara," the young Pakistani owner informs her, a careful eye on her old friend. "Who's your pretty companion?"

"She's not my friend," Kara pulls out her coin purse to find the exact change. Lena scoffs, as the wheels in her head turn, Kara still thinks she's pretty.

"I'll be your friend. I'm Asad."

"You shouldn't just tell people your name, Asad. They might stab you!" Kara puts the six dollars and twenty-cent on the register and continues to pick for the remaining change.

"Only if you steal Asad. Do you steal from people who trust you?" Lena eyes, Kara.

"Depends what I'm stealing."

Kara's smug face was starting to irritate Lena. "Can we talk outside?"

"Why? We're talking here. I'm sure Asad doesn't mind".

"I don't. It's been a slow day."

Lena pulls Kara out of the bodega. "Hey! You owe me 42 cents!"

"Put it on my tab!"

"You don't have a tab!"

"I'll pay you when I come back!" Asad is standing outside the store.

"I know where you work!"

Lena pulls Kara into an empty alleyway. Kara yanks her arm away and straightens her polo.

"Kara, please," Lena pleas.

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because we used to mean something to each other, we used to be best friends, doesn't that count for a couple of minutes of your time?"

Danvers mulls over her words before coldly stating, "No."

"Come on?" but Kara walks past her.

Lena watches her walk away, unable to contain her anger anymore.

"My little brother has kidnapped!" her voice cracks. Kara turns to her waiting for more information. "I don't know who or where, but someone has him."

"So how do you know he's in trouble."

Lena fishes out a piece of paper from her jacket. Kara can barely make out what's on it, instead, searching Lena's green eyes for any sentiment of this being a ruse or some kind of sick revenge; instead, she finds earnestness. Kara looks down at the piece of paper and continues to examine it. It is a print out of an email explaining that they had Lex and would keep him until his debt of $20 million was paid in full, a picture of Lex beaten and bound at the bottom.

"So pay them. Or let your mom pay for them."

"Pay them! Would you like me to go up to my board of trustees that I am not allowed access to yet and just carelessly ask for $20 mill?"

"Yeah, I would, if it means you're not going to bother me anymore."

Lena rubs her head; she can feel a migraine coming on, "That's not how Trust Funds work."

"Okay, but your mom?"

"My-my mother? My mother, who when I told her, said it was another one of Lex's cries for attention. That mother?"

"I forgot your mom sucks."

Lena folds her arms. Her frustration now given way to unease. "You look good."

Kara's polo was tight enough to display her biceps, and her blue jeans that also brought out her eyes weren't helping in denying the fact that Kara was more than fit.

Kara rubs her neck, trying to hide her blush. Kara feels her phone buzzing in her pocket "Sorry."

Lena waves her off as she answers the phone. "Hey... yeah?" Kara observes Lena as she pulls out her phone. "How do you know I'm not at work? Because you're there… I'm coming back from lunch… I'll be there soon." Kara turns back to Lena with a conflicted look, "I have to go."

"I know."

Lena feels defeated; she hadn't accomplished what she hoped with Kara today as her old friend walks off, only stopping to approach her again. She hands Lena her phone.

"Put your number in."

Lena doesn't hesitate then gives it back. "Thank you."

Kara smirks "I never said I'd help," she turns to leave.

Lena grins at her words because, regardless of what Kara said, she knows what the smirk means. They may have been away from each other for almost a decade, but some things never change.

Lena briskly paces around her apartment, National City's skyline looking like Tullio Crali's cityscapes through her long windows. She glances at her phone every other moment, the black screen taunting her. Lena wakes up her cellphone, greeted by only the time, 8:00 pm. A day had passed since they reconnected, but maybe their wounds weren't quite healed, yet, or maybe Kara had changed quite a bit since they were on good terms, she ruminates to herself. The phone buzzes in her hands, making Lena's heart jump. It's only a text from Henshaw.

"One week," he informs her.

She compromises in defeat, she may not be able to get Kara to agree yet, but at least she was able to give herself some more time to come around. An unexpected knock at the front door. Lena isn't expecting anyone. Her heartbeat spiked at the thought of some of Henshaw's goons ready to harass her. His text may have been a distraction. She stays silent, slowly approaching the front door.

"Lena it's me," Kara states from the other side.

Lena rushes over and rips it open, breath instantly taken away by the woman before her. Casually leaning against the doorframe in fashion, it would seem Alex should be wearing. Clad in dark skinny jeans, Doc Martens, and a black leather jacket. The only part of her fashion that looked the same was her fair makeup.

"Hey," she warily greets.

Lena quickly regains her footing, "How do you know where I live?"

Kara goes flush then massages the back of her neck. "Um, I stole it," she pauses, "from my sister."

"Is the F.B.I. allowed to do that?"

"No, but it's Alex's fault she has such an easy password."

"So, she knows how to dox me, but she still doesn't know that public enemy number one is her sister."

"Why would she, that would break her heart," Kara chimes in on a serious note. "Can I come in or do you want to have this conversation out here. I mean, I don't think all your neighbours know my profession yet, but if-"

Lena moves out of the way, glaring at Kara as she passes by with a smirk. God, this woman knows how to get under her skin. Kara meanders around the penthouse as if it were her own, gathering all the information she can on what Lena had been up to since they last met. It's an impressive flat full of all kinds of expensive items that would perform well on the black market.

With her appraisal finished, Kara clasps her hand together, mischievously, "So, what do you need to boost this stuff?" She does another round through the entrance room, "I can get about a couple of grand for all this stuff."

Lena watches her, slightly bewildered, "No, you.." She takes a deep breath to find confidence in her voice, "That's not what I need you for."

Kara steps into the kitchen, taking a seat on the barstool, "What is it then?"

"Do you remember the schematics of the plan you stole," a harsh bite to Lena's words.

"Did you call me over here to argue?"

"No, I do need your help," Lena puts the kettle on. Selecting a flavour, she continues, "But you understand the gravity of the crime you committed, right?"

Kara's demeanour finally falters, and she turns away, not yet able to deal with the ramifications of her actions. She knows that she massively screwed up, but Kara will be damned if she's the first one to apologize. A photo on the fridge catches her eye as she avoids Lena's harsh words. It's partially hidden behind a stack of various papers and pictures, but Kara recognizes the colours in the bottom corner. She pushes the pile aside and jimmies out the picture of them so many years prior. Kara and Lena are happy, their smiles matched by the neon lights of a carnival in the background. They hold each other close with Lena's wine red lipstick smudged around both their lips.

Lena quickly snatches the picture and shoves it in a drawer before distracting herself with the whistling kettle.

Kara gritted her teeth at Luthor's actions, before whispering, "I still think about you."

Lena flinches at her confession, surprised at how the night seemed to be going with Kara here. Shit, even surprised that Kara was standing in her kitchen, but she had to take the opportunity presented to her. Lena pulls out two mugs from the cabinet, keeping her back to Kara to collect herself and pours cups of tea.

"Still two sugars."

Kara nods moving back to the barstool once she realizes Lena wasn't going to say anything else.

"I need you to go with me back in time to steal two Faberge eggs from 1904 Russia," Lena casually sips her tea, scrunching her nose at the taste. "Mm, this needs more sugar."

Kara is dumbfounded by her complete 180. "Back in time?"

"Yes," Lena turns back to her with her fresh cup of tea.

"How?"

"With a time machine."

"You just have a time machine in your back pocket?"

"Yes, actually," she curtly answers. "Those schematics you stole from me was just a sketch, but it was the groundwork for a possible time machine."

"You invented the time machine?"

"I had some help, but yes." Lena suddenly becomes even more vexed, approaching Kara with a deadly stare. "Did you not read what you were stealing, or did you just like that it was on shiny paper?

"I kind of just stole it, I knew if you made it, it would be worth something," she shrugs in defence.

Lena keeps studying her, debating how much she could trust her old friend or if she could be trusted at all. Her heart and head battled one another for power over her decision, both getting thrown off by Kara's calm demeanour, even as Lena raged against her.

"Are you alright with all of this?" Kara puts her tea down. "I've never been to Russia let alone Imperial Russia, but what's in it for me?"

"The eggs are worth $100 million together, so I say 50/50."

Kara pursues her lips, "You knew how to get me didn't you?" Kara is weirdly giddy that Lena still knows how to play mental chess with her. It is one of the many things she loved about her, or once loved.

"Why not steal them now? Why go back in time?"

"It would be significantly harder here."

"Are you doubting my skills?"

"God, do you ever think about anything other than your fragile ego? Besides, I'd rather this form rather than facing a scandal against my family." Lena puts her mug in the sink "Can you imagine what my mother would do? You thought she was hard on Lex, wait until I'm the fuck up." Kara carefully regards her friend's mixed emotions, sensing the delicately balanced rage hidden behind her emerald eyes. Still a girl, trying to make her mom notice her for the right reasons and not when she needs a scapegoat.

"Where is the machine?" she inquires to break her out of her trance.

"Somewhere safe. No one can know this machine exists." Lena gets in Kara's face "Do you get it?"

Danvers tries with all of her might to hide her excited grin, fighting for dominance with just her eyes. She enjoys looking down at her, but assures her, "I never make the same mistake twice."

"So, you admit it was a mistake."

"I admit that I stole it, but you already knew that." Kara takes a step back. "I'll do it. I'll help you steal the eggs."

Lena studies Danver's face waiting for some tell that she was lying again, just trying to get the eggs all to herself, but the familiar twitch never surfaces. She knew, though, no matter how much she trusted her, she would need to stay vigilant.

Kara's excitement starts to bubble through, "Where is the marvellous machine of fiction?"

"Well, it's not a thing of fiction anymore," Lena smirks, leading Kara down the hall to an imposing oil painting of La Mort de Marat.

"Cool painting," her shallow voice echoes in the halls, wanting to reach out to brush her hand against the old art.

"It's an original." Lena quickly adds, "Don't steal it."

Kara lifts her hands in defence, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Lena reaches a switch behind the frame then steps back, the painting creaking open to a pristine lab, a stark contrast from the dim warmly lit hallway. Lena enters without hesitation, but Kara, on the other hand, is frozen in awe of the secret room. Lena clears her throat, and she follows. There are devices and papers strewn about the lab, including a small black cube that Kara picks up.

"Don't touch that," she is reprimanded, instantly dropping the device.

"Sorry."

Lena catches her tone, "Sorry, it's not stable yet."

Kara nods in agreement. "Where is it?"

"Come on."

Lena continues through the lab. There is a biometric system on a vault door. The machine scans her eyes, and the door opens. In the centre of the room is a pod. It's connected to wires and tubes that seem to come from every angle of the room. The command pod has tandem seats and a monitor with E.E.G. and EKG patches.

"It looks so futuristic," Kara slowly walks towards the machine.

"Well, it is a time machine."

Kara is too flabbergasted to come up with a witty retort. She does look back to Lena for permission to touch the device.

"You can touch it, just don't push anything."

With a wicked smile, Kara pounces on the machine.

Alex Danvers is the perfect soldier, on track to be promoted in her field due to her diligence as an F.B.I. Agent. She always stays late most nights to crack cold cases and form synapses for the various D.A.s or judges. Currently, in her superior officer's office. Alex stands before the desk, nervously standing at attention until the door creaked open. She stiffened her stance, back straight, and turned to the imposing woman clad in her military dress. She gives Danvers an indifferent look before taking her seat.

"Do you know why you are here?" Her commanding voice makes Alex rack her brain, thinking about what it could be. "Recently, we have had some unexplainable situations," Colonel Haley opens the file she came in with, crime scene photos spilling out.

"I didn't study history."

"Look harder."

One of the pictures was a group of older gentlemen with a woman. They're standing in front of a blackboard with different math equations. In the photo, there was one woman; a familiar-looking one, her bright eyes only muted by the quality of the film. Alex realizes she is staring at Lena.

"This is impossible," slowly Alex takes the picture, studying Lena's features to make sure it hasn't tampered. "How is this possible?" Alex's brain is shooting off a million and one scenarios, but none can answer. "Are you sure this isn't a relative of hers?"

"That's what you're going to find out," Colonel Haley shows her more pictures through time that happen to capture the older Luthor. "You have a personal relationship with her?"

"Had, she and my sister were close," she offhandedly mentions.

"Good. Miss Luther is in National City," Colonel Haley puts the pictures back in the file and hands it to Alex. "It is a recon mission, find out how this is possible." Alex stands, "Oh, and Agent Danvers; no one can be aware of this."

"Yes, ma'am."

Lena works on her machine, underneath it on a creeper with dirt and grime on her dungarees. She feels Kara's eyes on her, watching her prowl around the time machine and the crinkling of their Belly Burgers bags.

"Break time," she chimes in, pulling the creeper forward by her foot. Kara drops the bag on her stomach.

Lena smirks at her, a cheeky grin and joins her on one of the tables. The kind gesture warms her heart, but she quickly reprimands herself for the naivety.

"What's this for?"

"You need to eat unless you've found a way to get nutrients without eating?"

"I don't think a Big Belly burger counts as nutrients."

Kara digs into the chips, "It's the only nutrients that matter."

Lena finds herself giggling, "I would hate to be your doctor."

She lets out a boisterous laugh and almost falls off, "I should probably see Dr Susan; it's been years."

Lena's visceral reaction is all she needs to know that her joke hit the mark, which causes her to laugh even harder, Luthor finally realizing it was a joke and tosses a chip at her head.

"Hey!"

"You deserved it."

They settle into a comfortable silence and ever so often, Lena would risk a glance.

Kara sighs heavily, "I probably shouldn't say this, but, I've missed you." She doesn't look at Lena, too scared of what response she'd get, unable to handle the rejection or anger; both highly understandable reactions.

"Why did you do it?" Lena inquired with a painful crack in her voice.

She finally faces her, unable to find her voice for the first time. "I don't know. I didn't know what it was."

Lena desperately wants to believe her, but every nerve tells her to stand her ground, reject another personal connection with this traitor and let go once she gets her brother back. With the intense emotions, she suddenly doesn't feel hungry anymore and begins to wrap the burger, Kara wanting to protest before her phone rings with her sister's tone.

"I should get this," Kara inhales, stuffing a final chip in her mouth.

"It's fine. I wasn't hungry." Lena goes back under the vehicle.

Kara knows something is direly wrong from Lena's visible body language. Time may have passed since they last saw each other, but Kara has a P.H.D. in Lenamonics.

"Yello!" Danvers walks into the parlour room. "What?" Kara grabs her coat. "No, I haven't seen Lena in forever, but thanks for the flashback." Her gaze meanders back to the dim hallway. "What is this about?" She exits. "Yeah, Nandos in twenty."

Alex sits out on the patio, still clad in her bike jacket as she sips on her coffee. She beckons her sister over pushing the chair across her. Momentary panic overtakes Kara's thoughts as she tries to come up with a possible lie about seeing Lena, simultaneously wondering why she has taken an interest in the Luthor sibling.

"Lena's in town," Alex tells her.

"Noo," Kara replies animatedly.

Her face drops at her sister's sarcastic demeanour. "Have you seen her?"

"National City's a big place." Amazingly, her sister has yet to discover her side hustle with how quickly she sees through her poker face. "I saw her."

"You saw her!" Alex fumes.

She looks away in trepidation. "She came to my job."

This information throws Alex off. "When?"

Kara shifts in her seat, nervously, "Two days ago?"

"I saw you two days ago. Why didn't you say anything?" Alex narrows her eyes at her, the younger Danvers turning away from possible scrutiny.

"I didn't think it was pertinent information?"

"Don't get smart," Alex huffs, her frustrations becoming harder to restrain, "Why didn't you tell me."

Kara drinks her coffee. It's more candy than coffee "It slipped my mind."

"It slipped your mind?"

"Yeah."

"Kara!" Alex tries to calm herself.

"I don't have to tell you everything."

That phrase is the final straw. "You don't have to tell me everything, what are we, twelve?"

Kara notices that people are staring now. "Keep your voice down," she pleas.

"I will not," Alex shoots back. "She stabbed you in the back, literally. Or do I need to get you a mirror?"

"You know what? I'm leaving."

"Oh yeah?" she dares her, giving her sister her best authoritative glare.

Kara stares back at her unwavering eyes, finally shaking her head and leaves. Alex thought she was bluffing right up until her sister got in a cab, and then an extra five minutes for her to believe that her sister wasn't coming back.

'Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!' is all Kara could think of as she sprinted to Lena's building, sprint across the luxurious building lobby.

Security giving her a disapproving stare.

Danvers rushes up the stairs, opting for those rather than the busy elevator. Kara soon realizes her mistake by the twenty-fifth floor as she breathlessly huffs up the steps. Her lungs are begging for more air; her movements no longer hasty but lethargic, yet still determined.

"Thirty," she gasps, "finally!" Kara rests against the door and knocks intensely. "Lena! Lena!"

Luthor rips the door open, "Are you okay?"

She helps her in, leading her to the couch as she fetches her a glass of water. Kneeling before her, Lena lets her catch her breath, taking a paper towel to dab the slight sweat from her forehead. In their silence, she finds the sweet scent of her conditioner and perfume, a coconut, pineapple, and an earthy- but a fresh- scent. She leans in ever so slightly before Kara can notice her faux pas while her friend explains what had transpired at the coffee shop.

"What does your sister want with me?" Luthor asks.

"Nothing good." She reaches out to her, but Lena pulls away, a pang of sadness aching at her heart. "She was pissed that I had seen you." She moves closer to get her attention "Lena; there's only one reason why she'd be asking." Kara gently takes her hands, "We don't have much time. I'm sure she'll be here soon." Lena finally looks at her, searching her eyes and finding the sincerity and eagerness of her words. She also forgot how gorgeously blue they were. she could swim in them forever. "If you want to save your brother," this takes Lena out of her trance. "We have to go now. Is it ready?"

"Sort of, I wanted to run a couple more tests just to be safe."

"No time for perfection," she states as they tear through the open painting. Kara opens the pod and climbs in.

"Kara, wait!"

"What?"

"We can't go to Imperial Russian in 21st-century clothes."

Kara looks down at her outfit. "Have I ever told you how much I love your brain?"

Lena rolls her eyes, turning to a closet to hide her flushed cheeks. She pulls out two outfits, tossing the set at her. They began to dress down before a buzzing echoed through the penthouse. They freeze at the intrusion, Luthor getting slapped on the back.

"Go answer it," Kara urgently commanded her.

Lena jogged to the intercom, "Hello?"

"I know she's with you, Luthor," Alex's voice came through. "Look, I already have a warrant to search your penthouse, either let us in, or we'll break down this door."

"Fine," she curtly responded, buzzing them in. She raced back to the back room, closing the painting and locking it down tight.

Kara looks at her with frightened eyes, she soon slides into the cockpit, awaiting further instruction while her friend raced around the room to boot up the pod. Lena hops in, closing the hatch.

"Seatbelt," she reminds her, buckling herself in and flipping a few switches before tagging their place and time onto a digital screen.

The screen flashes in green letters, "St. Petersburg, Russian Empire" then dies out, putting a grim grumbling in the pit of Lena's stomach.

"Hey Lena, have you heard! There's a rumour in Saint Petersburg," Kara sang.

"How is that helpful in this situation?" she huffed, rechecking every switch and measurement.

"Levity, while you work under pressure. You know, you're at your best when you're calm."

Lena couldn't allow herself to overthink what that statement meant she had to find out what was wrong with the pod.

"F.B.I., open up!" A commanding voice boomed from the front door. "Knock it down!"

Lena turned to her, petrified "She wouldn't do that, right?"

Kara straps on her seat belt, but before she can answer, They hear the door burst open and combat boots stomp around the penthouse, the crash of other doors getting kicked open.

"Should I call out to them to end their fruitless search?" Kara nonchalantly inquires.

"Not helping."

Lena types faster on the keyboard, images of different parts of the ship flash on the screen. They hear the agents speaking, and begin to knock on the walls and floor to find a secret door or hatch. The bright blue lights dance around the ship as the machine lets out a low whooping sound.

"You did it," Kara rejoices.

"I can't believe she broke my door," Lena mutters as they experience time travel for the first time.

Smoke clogs the pod which puts the occupants in a coughing fit. They fight their way out, kicking and pushing against the hatch.

"We're going to suffocate," Lena sputters.

"We need to push at the same time," Kara tells her, hands flush against the glass.

"On three, then."

"On three or after three?"

"On three, Kara!"

With one final push, the hatch opens to the harsh winter of St. Petersburg. Kara steps out and into a heap of snow, she takes a deep breath of fresh cold Russian air, they seem to have landed in a forest. She watches her co-pilot busily inspect their surroundings.

"This isn't right, at all," Luthor mumbles.

With the smoke cleared out, she fumbles around the vehicle. Kara looks at her then wanders a little further into the woods.

"Hey, don't go far," the scientist calls.

Kara waves her off. It was stupid to think she wouldn't notice. She mumbles, "Why do I care if Lena notices?"

Lena finds the digital watch she was looking for, and she pushes a button on the side, the device flickers to life with the date: January 20th, 1902.

"Shit", she mutters. A high pitch scream permeates their surroundings. "KARA!"


	2. Time traveling is hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara arrive in Saint Petersburg but there is a mistake. They must fix the machine but life never goes the way we expect it does it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy it. Sorry, it took so long.

When Lena finds Kara, she is standing in front of an enormous elk with long majestic antlers slain at her feet, then Lena notices the scruffy older man with a gun pointed towards them, and she jumps back in fear.

"What're you doing out here?" he demands in Russian.

Kara looks to Lena for help.

"Our carriage broke down," Luthor responds in kind.

He nods and lowers his arm. "Do you need a ride?"

"No, we couldn't possibly. If you have some tools that would be a great help, though."

The old man shakes his head, "I don't have tools, but you can find some in town."

Lena nods, she needs to inform Kara of their current predicament. She also needs to fix this situation as soon as possible. As much as Lena does not want to go into Saint Petersburg, it looks like she has no other choice. She sits up front next to the older man as he guides his horse by the reins while Kara gets shoved into the bed with the dead elk only a few inches from her. Lena tries to hide her laughter, at Danvers' disgusted demeanour.

"Are you okay back there?"

Kara may have missed Lena's unbelievably easy laughter, but she isn't amused by being stuck next to a wreaking carcass badly in need of draining, from the leaking blood encroaching her shoes.

"Peachy, just peachy," she mutters.

The older man asks Lena what Kara said, Lena brushes him off before the horses start moving. The carriage hits a bump, and the elk move closer to Kara, she yelps. Lena burst out into a fit of laughter. Sometimes karma works in mysterious ways.

Once they get into the city of Saint Petersburg, the man drops them off on the outskirts. Lena and Kara would have to make their way to a tool supply store on foot. The first thing they recognize is the smell of the city, and the pollution caused by burning coal. A group of men shovel coal into factories; the snow that crunched below their feet was no longer white but yellow, brown, and black.

Kara turns to Lena looking for guidance. "Where too?" The always prepared scientist seems unprepared for such a question. "Did he give you directions?"

"In Russian."

"You spoke Russian."

"Not his dialect."

Kara groans at her insufficient answer. She watches the way the ornate dress trails behind Lena from under her coat. She looks like she belongs in this time but as nothing less than royalty. Even dressed as a commoner, her features are heavenly but sharp in the smog.

"Kara, I need to tell you something," Kara notices the anxiousness present in her old friend's voice.

Before Lena can finish her sentence, a motorized vehicle barrels towards them, Kara acts quickly by yanking her out of the path; their bodies are flush together. Their eyes lock in petrified fear, the stark worry in Kara's light blue eyes adding even more stress to their predicament. 'Why did Kara have to betray her? Why did she ruin what they had, what they were building together?' Moments like this made Lena's heartache. She couldn't be around Kara after everything even years later, the pain is still too fresh. Luthor's biggest mistake was breathing in; Kara’s scent invading her senses. Judging from the look in Kara's eye, she is going through her own mental turmoil. She gives her a once over to make sure she wasn't injured.

"Oh no, I am so sorry!" a nasal voice in Russian breaks their stupor.

Fury overtakes Kara's emotions, in her mind she wants to scream, 'How dare you almost kill my Lena?' but then settles for a more platonic, "You almost killed her!" She gets a better look at the perpetrator, a young man who seems just as shaken as the person he almost killed.

"I'm so sorry. Truly you must let me make up for it. I'm teaching my butler how to drive, you see," he fervently apologizes, soon entrapped by Lena's beauty.

Kara watches him carefully, Lena would have been more into the attention if she had seen that it was getting to Kara. She instead looks to her partner for help, but finally spots the jealousy in her eye and wonders how she should play this, flirt back with him and see what Kara does or get to work? No, Lena admonishes herself, she doesn't care what Kara thinks. The gentleman takes his hat off, and his butler soon follows, approaching the group.

"I'm alright," Lena replied in Russian.

"You could've killed her! Lena, translate."

The young man smiles and, in perfect English, informs her, "You speak English, with a bizarre accent." Kara feels offended at his accusation. "My name is Winslow Yakovlev II or just Winn. The strapping young man behind me is my butler, James Olsen."

He takes Lena's hand without permission to her surprise and her companion's annoyance. Danver's rising irritation of the hand holding devolves in her thoughts. 'Why do I care?... Do I care? More than I'm ever willing to admit.' She knows her feelings for Lena never went away, but she did something horrible, how can she ever be forgiven? The one promise Luthor begged her to keep before they furthered their relationship and she broke it. As far as Kara is concerned, she no longer deserves her, but that doesn't mean that this puny suitor does. 'Fuck him,' Kara thinks.

Danvers has never been subtle, Lena can read her line of thought and she huffs. She didn't come here to make her jealous. She just wants to free her brother and to run away from Kara's entrancing pull. Lena wants to go back to ignoring her problems and this trip was quickly becoming a very complex problem.

"Is everything alright?" This time James interrupts her thoughts.

"Yes, yes," His boss assures him. He turns to Lena again, "Let me take you both for lunch? My treat!"

Kara may be upset, but not when food is involved. She can tolerate this man's blatant gawking at Lena long enough to eat; time travel is hunger-inducing.

"No, that won't be necessary," Lena states firmly. Kara pouts at her, and seriously after this much time apart one would think she could resist that pout, but no it's too cute, too adorable and oh so Kara. Lena also notices Winslow pouting; it's like being stared down by two puppies, so she breaks and agrees. "Oh good lord, fine!" Honestly, she doesn't know what Kara is thinking. One minute she looks ready to kill the audacious driver the next she wants to go to lunch with him.

"Do you have potstickers here?" Kara inquires. Lena realizes her companion's stomach is currently doing all the thinking for her.

The group walks to the vehicle, "Oh, I didn't catch your name?"

"I'm Kara, and this person who is not paying any attention to us is Lena." She references Luthor who admires the authentic car before them.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" the owner proudly inquires.

"Very," Kara scoffs at Lena's answer. "This a Yakovlev & Freze, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." He puts his hand on the car door. "First-generation petrol engine," they say in unison.  
"Yes, you know my father's work?" Winn responds both surprised and intrigued.

"Your father?"

"Yes, he created this vehicle," he thinks for a second, "I've never met a woman interested in motorized vehicles before. What a wonderful surprise."

Kara wants to throw up or throw Winn into a river. It could go either way at this point.

Lena laughs uncomfortably, "Well, I can be rather surprising sometimes."

She and Kara's eyes lock for a second too long, Olsen clears his throat.

"Oh my, James is right we should get going," Yakovlev says from the buggy. They all hop in the cramped vehicle and begin to the Yakovlev manor.

"Thank you," Lena says as they take off.

"It's the least I can do after almost hitting you."

Kara's stomach growls loudly, Lena shakes her head at her. "A girl's gotta eat, Lena."

~~~~~~~~~~

Alex surveys the empty penthouse, her agents scatter as they comb through everything they can find, turning Lena's apartment upside down. To say the agent was pissed was putting it lightly, they knew Lena was here, but somehow she had slipped away.

"Agent Danvers!" one of her agents called from down the corridor. Alex walks over to find a painting on the wall open to show a hidden lab. Of course, Lena had a secret lab, but that didn't explain how she got away.

"Search everything."

Alex hasn't heard from Kara as her calls and text go unanswered. She wonders if her sister had lied about not knowing of her old friend's time in National City. She still harboured great resentment about how Kara left her at Nanoons, and now she dares to reject any further communication? Alex was beginning to get worried, though. That stress only increased with the addition of the current situation of a missing Luthor with a secret lair. Alex concedes and calls her sister again. The phone begins to ring, immediately she hears a phone buzz somewhere in the lab. She lowers her cell, in disbelief and goes in search of the source which leads to a bag of clothes. 'What happened here?' She swipes her sister's cell before any of her agents find it and escapes to find Kara. Evidence was piling up against Kara and she wanted answers.

Alex escapes Lena's flat in a hurry for Kara's apartment in the rent control side of town; she sprints up the five-story walk-up.

"Kara! Kara!" Alex knocks on her door, frantically but there is no answer.

Alex uses her emergency key and bursts into the apartment, searching for any sight of Kara. The bed is made with her sister's teddy bears on it and her clothes on the ground. How Kara manages to be both disciplined and undisciplined at the same time is beyond Alex. Kara isn't in her apartment, she hasn't been answering her phone and now Alex is in panic mode. Her heart races and she hyperventilates on the verge of a panic attack. She can't lose Kara, she's all the family Alex has left save for their mom. Maybe it was her paranoia speaking, but she had an inkling of something terrible happening and she was two steps behind. Alex took a few more breaths to take back control of her emotions. She's a government agent who could track her innocent little sister down. Alex combs through her apartment for any clues as to her sister's whereabouts.

It was midnight by the time Alex left Kara's places with no new information on where Kara could be. She left with her head down, lost in thought on how her day could end like this. Her sister was perhaps missing, Lena Luthor is a fugitive after only being back in Kara's life for less than a second. Alex refused to believe that the two were anything other than coincident; what could Luthor want with her little sister? The fact that her little sister’s phone was found in Lena secret lair only adds to the negative downward spiral on Kara’s whereabouts. Alex decides to go home, there was nothing to be found at Kara’s place. She would do some research and come back in the morning. Maybe, hopefully, Kara would be in her apartment, burning something that could have been delicious. Alex feels a little bit better as she leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~

Lena and Kara sit in a maroon Victorian living room. Lena sits uncomfortably on the sofa while her much more relaxed companion stares down a taxidermy elk.

Kara leans over to her, "Dead elks are following us."

"Don't stare at it if it bothers you so much?"

James comes out carrying a tray of tea for them. When Kara spots the little sandwiches and cakes, she dives right in, pouring herself some tea. Lena looks at her in exasperation, the uncertainty of the day finally getting to her. James leaves the room again as Winn calls him. On the table in the corner, Lena sees a light bulb attached to some wires on a wooden board. She walks over to it like a moth to the flame.

Kara's mouth is stuffed, "What are you doing?"

"You shouldn't talk while you're eating, darling," Lena is too enamoured with the experiment to realize the slip of the term of endearment. Kara stops eating and stares at the back of Lena's head as she starts to tinker with the contraption.

"Lena I don't think he would like that."

"He has the wires attached wrong. I'll be surprised if this thing works."

Kara can hear Winn and James's footsteps getting closer to the room.

"Lena!" she whispers, but it is too late.

Winn walks into the room and immediately sees what Lena is doing. His face is a mixture of shock and audacity, "What are you doing!" Before he can utter another word, Lena flips the switch, and the light bulb flickers on and leaves the creator speechless, "H-how? I've been trying to get that to work all week."

"You had the wires connected wrong."

Winn marvels at her much to Kara's pique. "Are you a scientist?"

"An engineer," Kara sneers in correction.

She isn't jealous, not even a little bit, she just knows Lena's taste and prefers not to watch Winn's sad attempt at courting her. As far as Kara is concerned, she is helping everyone involved not to waste their time. She watches Winn fawn all over Lena asking her questions about annoying things that she knows are plebeian levels to Lena's intelligence. She can't stand it, instead, she turns her attention to something in the house. Lena may have asked her here to steal the eggs, but she never said she couldn't also take from Captain-Simp. Kara stops for a moment to reflect, was she jealous? Lena seems to bring out the possessiveness in her, but why? They weren't friends and haven't been lovers in a decade. Kara groans this is why she moved away from Lena, all her presence did was revert her into being the confused hormone-driven teenager she had once learned to lock away. So, when Winn touches Lena's hand, all Danvers sees is red. If Lena is shocked by the intrusion, she doesn't show it. The sly Luthor looks relieved and smug.

"Lena, can we go?"

She stands, "Yes, we should get going. Thank you for everything."

Winn stands abrupt reaching for Lena's hand again. Kara steps in between them, "Away."

Lena looks at Kara trying to decipher her hostility. "Don't be rude. We need to get some tools?"

"What kind of tools? Are you experimenting on something of your own?" Winn's excitement grows with each sentence.

"Something like that," Lena adds.

"I can help. Yes, it's brilliant. I'll grab my tools, and we'll be on our way."

In unison, Kara, and Lena state, "No!" The latter places her hand on her companion's shoulder and reassures their host, "Don't worry about our simple fix, it's just a carriage."

"Nonsense. We can't have two women out this late gallivanting around."

Lena looks at the time only to realize how late it truly was. They might not be able to make it back to the pod safely on their own. God, she hated history, not because it wasn't fascinating but rather the atrocious human rights violations that persisted to this day. They needed Winn and luckily he was willing to be there for them. Although, how do you say to a man you just met, and you and your friend are time travellers and not get probed for being aliens? Lena is starting to feel the beginning of a massive migraine. They take the carriage out of Saint Petersburg Lena and Kara in the back while their hosts sit in the front.

"Why are we fixing the pod now? We could've ditched these guys and found a hotel," Kara broods.

"No Kara, we have to do it now."

"Why?" Lena fidgets with her fingers, Kara notices as a nervous tic. "What aren't you telling me?"

Luthor bows her head then looks at Winn and James before turning back to her. "Promise to remain calm."

"I'm the oxford definition of calm."

"We're in the wrong year."

First, it is almost as if Kara's brain didn't recognize the words coming out of Lena's mouth. It takes about three seconds for it to click, her eyes go wide and her switches between protesting and keeping a level head. "How wrong?"

"Two years wrong."

A tiny noise escapes Kara. "You can fix it right?"

"I'll try," and that was the straw that broke Kara.

"Try!" Winn and James spin around, looking at them.

'Is everything okay back there?"

Lena masks the nervousness in her voice, "We're fine. Kara's trying to kill a bug." She turns back around, "That was not calm."

"I'm possibly stuck in Imperial Russia, fuck your calm. I can't believe this. I knew this would happen. I knew it."

"How could you possibly know that I would come to you needing help and we would go back in time to Imperial Russia except it would be two years too early?" Lena's voice rises at the end of her rant.

"Have you ever seen a movie about time travel that ended well?"

"Harry Potter," Lena says stubbornly.

"That wasn't about time travel!"

"Hermione had a time turner."

"You're insufferable!"

Winn calls from outside the carriage, "Lena."

Lena doesn't hear him too wrapped up in fighting with Kara.

"I'm insufferable. You're insufferable!"

Winn calls again, "Lena!"

"So original, very Christopher Columbus of you."

"LENA," Winn finally manages to get her attention.

"What!"

"What direction?"

"Oh," Lena sticks her head out the carriage window looking for the markers she memorized earlier. "Further down."

James mushes the horses to continue down the dirt road. Kara is staring out of her window, purposely ignoring her ex-lover. Lena doesn't have that luxury of being as aloof as the woman beside her. Her anxiety eating away at her, she fidgets with her fingers again. Kara peeks at Lena seeing her nerves getting the better of her. She wishes things were easier with Lena, but there is too much history, too many evil deeds done in the name of good. Kara puts her hands on top of Lena's, ceasing her fidgeting immediately. The mad scientist looks at her, searching for something but Kara is firm in resolve. She intertwines their fingers.

"What are we gonna do about-?" Lena looks at Winn and James.

"Why did you allow them to come?"

"He wasn't going to take no for an answer."

"Yes, we just say no."

"You and I both know as women that it doesn't work."

Kara groans, how were they going to get out of this mess that was their current situation. "We could always run."

Lena snaps her head towards her, "What?"

"It will be fully dark by the time we get there. We can run as soon as they stop. High tail it to the pod or hide until they go away."

"Wouldn't that be rude?"

"Yes, very, but then we won't get burnt at the stake for being witches."

~~~~~~~~~~

Alex wakes up and checks her phone to no new messages or calls from Kara. She briskly prepares for another fruitless endeavour of finding her sister. At seven am, it's still too early to call Kara, she thinks. She instead decides to surprise her with breakfast. Alex decides to stop by Nanoons on her way to Kara, picking up her favourite doughnuts on the road. She knocks on Kara's door and waits with her ear to the door. She thinks she hears footsteps.

"Kara, let me in. I have your favourite!" No one answers, but Alex can hear someone on the other side of the door. The sound of glass breaking lets Alex know someone is in there. Alex fishes out her extra key and rushes in to find no one, but something feels off. The broken glass is on the kitchen floor, and watermarks lead into the apartment. Alex puts the box and coffee on the kitchen counter.

"Kara?" Slowly, she pulls out her gun. "Kara, are you in here? This isn't funny?"

The elder Danvers sister walks further into the apartment and a figure slowly moves closer. Alex hears the wooden floor squeak behind her and she turns. The first thing Alex registers is her gun skillfully being taken from her as she is spun around by the intruder. The intruder detaches herself from Alex, taking her weapon and pointing it at Alex. Alex pulls her knife from her boots ready for battle. They face-off, Alex notices the intruder's long black hair, smooth dark skin, beautiful big eyes. The woman looks furious, and Alex can sympathize because she's also quite upset. Who is this woman, and why is she in Kara's apartment.

"What have you done with my sister?"

"I was supposed to take her for coffee but seems she's nowhere to be found?'

"Who are you?"

"I'm Kelly, a friend of Kara's. Judging from your stench of government lackey, I guess you're Alex?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta. I hope you enjoy


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